Choices
by RandomWarning
Summary: Toph, ironically, is caught between a rock and a hard place and doesn't know what to do. The problem? She's pregnant.


Choices

Opening his eyes, Sokka blinked rapidly, trying to block out the morning sun. Yawning immensely, he flailed an arm to his side, only to find that the spot was empty. And cold. She had been gone a while.

"Where is she?" Sokka groaned to no one in particular. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and stretched. Sokka and his girlfriend owned a house in Ba Sing Se. It wasn't very hard to acquire seeing as he was friends with the Avatar—who also happened to be his brother-in-law. The house was truly a find. Not to mention expensive. With a little persuasion on Aang's part, it had cost them absolutely nothing.

It was a significant size. Two stories and a large garden in the backyard. That was what really sold them.

Throwing on whatever clean clothes he could find, Sokka descended downstairs. Walking into the kitchen, he immediately felt tension. And he could tell. The place was an absolute mess. It looked as if she had been trying to cook. Weird.

Sokka ate whatever leftovers he could find. He noticed a lot of chocolate was missing. Her and her cravings. Entering the living room, the scene looked better. Everything clean and orderly. His sister and brother-in-law were coming by later, so it had to be. Walking out back into the garden, Sokka looked up and noticed that it was about noon. Later was coming sooner than he thought. The couple would arrive soon, and Sokka still had no idea where his girlfriend was.

Turning a corner, he found her. She was perched atop a rock, staring at nothing. Her long ebony hair blew freely around her with the slight breeze. Approaching her rock, he reached out and carefully touched her hand, so as not to startle her too much. She turns her head in his direction.

"Hey, Snoozles. How long you been out here?" she asks. Sokka smiled. Sometimes it was amusing to have a blind girlfriend.

"Not too long. What about you? Your side of the bed was cold this morning," Sokka stated matter-of-factly.

"I got hungry," she replied, her cheeks hazed over with a soft pink.

"Toph..." Sokka sighed and brushed some hair from her face. Toph, now 19, was more beautiful than ever. It had taken him years to convince her to let her hair down. She closed her eyes and leaned in slightly to his hand, but he retracted his appendage, causing her to pout unhappily. Seated on her rock, Toph was now level with Sokka. He stares into her pale, unseeing, green eyes. They always seemed to entrance him somehow. Shaking his head, he leans forward and grently presses his lips to hers. He could feel a smile forming across her face.

Breaking away, he says, "I'll be back". Reentering the house, he hears a knock on the door. "Already?" he whispers to himself. Sokka strides through the living room and over to the door.

He opens the door to reveal his sister and brother-in-law. Katara smiles warmly at her older brother.

"Sokka," she says simply. He returns the smile and invites them in. "Wow, Sokka. It's actually clean in here."

He rolls his eyes and says, "Thanks. But I didn't clean it. Toph did." Katara stops dead in her tracks and turns to face Sokka. Aang stares at him with a look of bewilderment on his features as well, obviously astonished to a high degree.

"Wait. Did you say Toph cleaned?" the Avatar asks.

"Toph? Bei Fong? The same one who has manners, but chooses not to use them? That Toph?" questions Katara.

"That's the only Toph I know," responds Sokka, a confused look on his face.

"Something's not right here..." Katara mumbles under her breath.

"Weird," says Aang in silent agreement with the waterbender. However, he immediately dismissed the thought, and wandered into the kitchen. "Whoa!"

Katara's head snaps up, her reverie broken.

"What?" she asks and walks into the kitchen too, followed by Sokka. She looks around, inspecting the scene before her. She gives Sokka a suspecting, somewhat skeptical, side-long glance. He catches her look and grows defensive.

"What!? Don't look at me like that! I didn't do anything!" he cries. Katara raises an eyebrow inquisitively, and crosses her arms.

"It looks like a platypus-bear ransacked this place," Aang remarks, going through the random food items on the counter.

"Explanation?" inquires Ka tara.

"Toph," Sokka says bluntly. "She also ate half of the chocolate supply."

"Oh. So, she cleaned the living room, destroyed the kitchen, and she ate most of your chocolate. Interesting," Katara says in a doubtful tone.

"Mhm. She was also up way before I was," he decides to add. Katara stands quietly for a moment, thinking about all the strange things that Toph had apparently been doing. She fingers her necklace thoughtfully. Her eyes suddenly widen as the pieces start to come together.

"Sokka, where is Toph right now?" she asks.

"On her rock outside. She's been there all day. Why?" he asks curiously.

"I need to talk to her you and Aang stay here." she commands. Aang looks up and walks over to her, concern in his eyes.

"Is everything okay?" he asks. Katara gives her lover a reassuring smile.

"Everything's find. I just need to talk to Toph. Alone," she says, directing the last word at Sokka. Taking her hand, Aang gently pulls Katara towards him. He kisses her lightly on the lips then releases her.

"Be careful. There's nothing more dangerous than a grumpy Earthbender." Aang warns her.

Katara rolls her eyes then answers, "I beg to differ, but, okay. I can deal with Toph though." She turns on her heel, walks through the door and vanishes.

...

Once outside, Katara immediately notices the master Earthbender. She was still seated atop her rock; eyes closed and arms wrapped tightly around her midsection. Katara walks quietly up to her, so as not to startle her.

"Toph?" she says quietly, gently touching her arm. Toph's eyes open and she looks in Katara's direction.

"Katara? When did you get here?" Toph asks.

"A couple minutes ago. So. How are you, Toph?" inquires Katara. Toph shuffles nervously on her rock.

"Okay, I guess. You?" she asks automatically.

"Fine, thanks," she responds. An uncomfortable silence follows after. Toph turns her head, away from Katara. "Why don't you come down here?"As a response, Toph scrunches up higher on her rock. Katara sighs and says, "It's okay Toph. Aang's still inside. He won't know." Toph whips her head around to face Katara.

"What... do you know?" she asks.

"Why don't you come down? Then we'll talk," says Katara, knowing she's won Toph over. Toph reluctantly hops off of her rock, and leans against it. "Tell me everything."

"Well, about three days ago, I was feeling really crappy. I came outside and... it felt like someone was with me. Another heartbeat was following me around... it was so close though, like this person was right up against me... It took me a second to realize what was happening. It really fr eaked me out. I knew I couldn't tell Sokka just yet, so, I went to go talk to someone," Toph admits. Katara stares at Toph, surprised at this new bit of information.

"Who did you go talk to?" asks Katara.

There was a pause.

"Teo."

"Teo?" says Katara, surprised.

Toph nods. "He was in town, so I went to go see him. It didn't...turn out the way I expected though."

"What do you mean?" inquires Katara.

"Well..."

...

"Toph!" shouts a voice happily. Toph turns in the direction of the voice and is soon after engulfed in a hug. Once she's let go of, she chuckles.

"Hi Teo. Nice to see you too," she responds. Toph and Teo "walk" together through the streets of Ba Sing Se, catching up on things. Teo tells Toph how Katara promised to heal his legs and how surprised he had been that it was even possible. Toph found that she didn't have much to say. They meandered along until they came across the house that Teo was staying at. He led her inside and into the backyard. Toph soon settled herself on a spot on the ground.

They sat together in comfortable silence for awhile.

"Teo, can I ask you something?" Toph inquires, breaking the silence.

"Sure, Toph," he replies. Toph grows quiet for awhile, gathering her thoughts.

"Well, I'm not quite sure what to do. I don't want to tell Sokka, and I don't want my parents to know, so, ironically, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place," Toph starts.

Teo stares at her, confused. "I'm not sure I understand."

Toph sighs heavily. "Teo, I... I'm pregnant," she says bluntly. This catches Teo completely off guard. He didn't expect such a thing. Especially concerning Toph.

"Toph, I... wow. Um. I'm not sure how to respond," he admits

Toph nods her head understandingly. "It's okay. I just needed someone to talk to. I've just... never been in this situation before, is all."

"So what are you going to do?" he asks.

"Well, I... I'm not sure. I can't tell my parents. And I'm afraid if I tell Sokka, he'll freak and leave. The only thing that would work is if he were to marry me." Toph says and chuckles at her last statement. "As if. Sokka's too afraid of commitment. Besides, who else would marry me with this?" she says, motioning to her stomach.

"I would," says Teo. Toph's eyes widen and she laughs.

"Yeah right. Seriously now, Teo." she says.

"I am serious. Toph, if Sokka doesn't ask, I will. You'd be very well cared for. I promise you that," he says sincerely and puts a hand on her arm. Toph shrinks away from his touch.

"I'm sorry, Teo. I... I have to go." she says quickly and departs.

...

"Oh my. Does Sokka know?" asks Katara.

"No. And you can't tell him. He can't know." says Toph.

"But, Toph..." starts Katara.

"No! It looks like I'm on my own with this one," murmurs Toph as she slumps to the ground. "He was the only one I ever really loved," she says, burying her face in her knees. Katara kneels down and places a hand on Toph's back.

"Toph, that isn't true. Sokka loves you very much. More so than Suki or Yue. Of this I'm sure. He'll understand. You just need to let him know. Believe me." Toph barely nods her head. Katara smiles and hugs the dark-haired girl. "It'll be okay," she whispers. Toph sighs and stands up, hugging her midsection. "We'll stay in town. That way I can check on you. Alright?" Toph nods her head, eyes focused on the ground.

Katara makes her way inside and is immediately bombarded by Aang.

"Katara! Is everything okay? What's wrong?" he asks quickly. She shakes her head and smiles.

"Everything's fine. I'll tell you later," she says and herds Aang to the door.

"Katara?" asks Sokka. The Waterbender turns to face her warrior brother. "What's going on?"

"Maybe you should ask Toph," says Katara. She continues to the door, and the couple leaves. Confused, Sokka decides to take his sister's advice. He goes outside to find the Earthbender actually standing on the ground, arms wrapped firmly around her stomach.

"Toph?" he says, approaching her. She turns her head away from him. He looks at her, concern beginning to spread across his face. "Toph?" he repeats.

"Sokka, I"m sorry I didn't tell you earlier," she says.

"Tell me what earlier?" he asks.

Toph takes a deep breath before answering, "I'm pregnant." Sokka's eyes widen for a moment as reality starts to sink in. "I'm sorry..."

"Toph," Sokka says gingerly, placing a hand on her arm. She turns her head in his direction. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he asks.

"Because I was afraid."

"You? Afraid? Of what?"

"I was afraid that you would reject me because of it. Afraid that I would have to get through this pregnancy on my own. Or with Teo," she admits.

"Teo?" Sokka asks, surprised.

"I talked to him the other day. Told him about my dilemma. I told him that the only way I'd be able to live this down was if I was married. It's the only way. He said that if you didn't offer, he would," she explains. Sokka didn't know what to say. It was clearly evident that Toph was going through much more than he expected.

"What's wrong with Teo?" Sokka asks curiously. This time, it was Toph's turn to be surprised.

"Well, I... nothing I guess. It's just that... that I don't love him."

"You don't?"

"Well, I do. But I love him like I love Aang, the Duke, or Zuko. Like a brother. I don't love him like I do..."

"Like you do what?"

"Like I do you," Toph manages to say, a fierce blush creeping up on her. It was rare that she said these things. They weren't to be taken for granted. Sokka smiles warmly.

"I'm glad to know that," he replies honestly, and pulls her into a loving embrace. Toph rests her head on his collarbone; his head atop hers. They remain in this position , each one secured in the other's arms, for what seems like an eternity. "It seems like there's only one solution to this," Sokka finally says.

"What?" asks Toph, lifting her head.

Not bothering to get down, Sokka asks, "Toph. Will you marry me?" Toph's breath catches in her throat. Did Sokka just ask that? Sokka?! Was such a thing possible?

"You... you mean it?" she manages to ask in a hushed tone.

"With my whole heart."

Still blushing, Toph answers with a small, shy, smile, "Yes."

"Good," he chuckles. Sokka had a betrothal necklace for her, but wanted to wait for just the right moment to give it to her. Now couldn't be a more opportune time. He leans down and kisses her; softly, but with a passion. She eagerly returns the favor.

Breaking away he says, "We'll get through this together", and places a hand over hers, on her stomach.

Still smiling, she rests her head back on his chest.

"Together."


End file.
